Having left Cangzhou, the diplomatic mission was escorted for a distance by the Black Knights, slowly and steadily making their way north. Northern Qi was not truly to the north of the Kingdom of Qing, but rather to its northeast. Between the two countries lay a great number of powerless vassal states. On the eastern shore lay the largest city in the land and its most prosperous seaport - the City of Dongyi.
The route the diplomatic mission had chosen did not go through the vassal states, because the more cities the route passed through, the harder it was to be on guard. Of course, the implementation of this secret agreement between the two countries could not pass through the City of Dongyi either. If the once-demented Sigu Sword were to descend into madness, then it could provoke a war between all three states; who would want to be responsible for that result?
